Bouteflika shifts posts to ‘control succession’

ALGIERS: Ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s massive reorganization of the cabinet, in which he gave key posts to close allies, aims to ensure he has control over his succession next year, analysts and media say.
The reshuffle on Wednesday, the largest since 1990, saw nearly a third of ministers lose their jobs and came after Bouteflika had put a confidante as head of the ruling National Liberation Front and trimmed the sails of the powerful DRS military intelligence agency.
It came a year after the last cabinet was formed, and was one of the first major actions by the 76-year-old president since he returned home in July following almost three months in France recovering from health problems.
“It’s a war Cabinet to prepare for the presidential election” in April 2014, political analyst Rachid Grim told AFP.
Another analyst, Nacer Djabi, said “Bouteflika has returned in force, despite his illness, imposing as head of the National Liberation Front a man close to his clan, changes in the DRS and the cabinet reshuffle.”
Two weeks ago, the FLN, which has ruled since independence from France in 1962, chose Ammar Saidani as its new secretary general amid a crisis within the party.
The six FLN ministers who had opposed him were removed from the cabinet, and experts believe his appointment has allowed Bouteflika’s supporters to tighten their control of the party in the run-up to next year’s election.